Evangelization Series brings pilgrimage sites to Greensburg

By Jennifer Miele
Chief Communications Officer/Managing Director of Evangelization

Imagine getting to experience five of the most famous Catholic pilgrimage sites from the around the world all in one day. More than 750 people had a chance to do just that at the Diocese of Greensburg’s interactive event in September called “KNOW HIM: Pilgrimage to Christ.”

Each of the five displays depicted famous images and included a speaker discussing the highlights of visits to the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C.; the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City; the National Shrine of Our Mother of Perpetual Help in Baclaran, Philippines; the Monastery of Jasna Góra in Czestochowa, Poland; and the Cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris, France. The displays and speeches are available to rent for parish and diocesan functions; email [email protected] for more information.

The KNOW HIM event also featured an experiential session about the National Eucharistic Congress held in Indianapolis in July, which attracted 50,000 Catholic pilgrims from across the United States. At the Greensburg event, a video about the congress played, and speakers discussed the powerful pull of the Eucharist, as well as the steps each of us can take to bring others closer to Christ. Afterward, each pilgrim wrote down a name of someone they will keep in their prayers and made it part of a poster. At the conclusion of the event, the poster revealed the phrase: “Revival Starts Here.”

The Basilica of the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C. is known as America’s Catholic Church. The Basilica has more than 80 chapels dedicated to the Virgin Mary under her various patronages that represent the peoples, cultures and traditions that make up the fabric of the Catholic Church and United States. Each chapel has an image of Mary and a crucifix that portrays Jesus and Mary according to the ethnicity of the chapel. The National Shrine is dedicated to the Immaculate Conception, which celebrates Mary being born without original sin. Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception is the patron saint of the United States. 

The Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City is where the Virgin Mary appeared to St. Juan Diego in 1531, just 40 years after Christopher Columbus brought Europeans to the Americas. The Basilica houses the image of Our Lady that miraculously appeared on Juan Diego’s tilma. This image has retained its vibrancy for over 475 years, despite the fact that the natural life span of the fabric is only 30 years. The details of this image are remarkable and point to their supernatural origin, so much so that the stars on the cloak are identical to the positions of the constellations in the early morning hours of the day Mary appeared to Juan Diego.

The National Shrine of Our Mother of Perpetual Help in Baclaran, Philippines, is a place where 150,000 pilgrims visit each week to pray and celebrate God’s help through our Blessed Mother. Near Manila’s international airport, it is the largest shrine in the world dedicated to Our Mother of Perpetual Help. The devotion to Our Lady of Perpetual Help in the Philippines began when the Redemptorist Fathers, a religious order founded in Rome by St. Alphonsus Liguori, were instructed by Pope Pius IX to make the icon of Our Lady known throughout the world. During World War II, the Redemptorist monastery was seized by Japan, and the icon was thought to be lost to war. However, the icon was found by a religious brother at a prison among seized objects. Devotion to the icon grew, and a novena, a set of prayers over nine Wednesdays, began in 1948 after the war. 

The Monastery of Jasna Góra is located in Czestochowa, Poland, and holds the icon of Our Lady of Czestochowa. According to legend, this icon is believed to have been painted by St. Luke the Evangelist at the house of the Holy Family and was brought to Constantinople from Jerusalem in 326 by St. Helena. Some art historians believe the icon was written in the 6th or 9th century, but testing is inconclusive because the icon was repaired after it was stolen and severely damaged by robbers in 1430. Every August since the Middle Ages, thousands walk an 11-day, 217-mile pilgrimage to the shrine. 

The Cathedral of Notre Dame is located in Paris, France, and houses the Crown of Thorns and a sliver and nail from the true cross. Notre Dame took almost 100 years to build, and has since been changed and restored multiple times by French leaders, including Napoleon in 1802. Victor Hugo’s popular 1831 novel, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, in which the Cathedral figures prominently, inspired the French to restore the church, and it became a cultural symbol of Paris. The cathedral has a long history of misfortune, suffering damage during the Paris Commune of 1871 and again during World War II. A fire linked to ongoing renovation work in 2019 destroyed the oak and lead roof of the cathedral, to the shock of millions watching on television worldwide. For the last five years, artisans have meticulously recreated the medieval cathedral’s roof, harvesting oak trees from forests around France. You can be one of the first pilgrims to visit the cathedral when it reopens on Dec. 8, the Feast of the Immaculate Conception.